ISLAMABAD - Severely condemning the drone strike in Balochistan that reportedly killed Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour, Pakistan yesterday dismissed claim of the US government that Mullah Mansour was hampering the Afghan peace talks.
“I want to bring into your notice against the will of our intelligence agencies and the government that not only Mullah Mansour had been leading the peace talks,” said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, addressing a press conference at the Punjab House. He referred to the peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban that took place on July 7, 2015, and said not only Afghan Taliban but also a representative of Haqqani Network were present in the talks in which the US and China participated as observers.
Mansour had been leading the peace talks held between the Afghan government and Taliban, the minister said. He questioned how a person who was present in the peace talks could be a hurdle in this whole process. “So the reason described by the US for this action is unacceptable and without reason,” Nisar said. He argued had Mansour been an opponent of the Murree peace talks, the same could not have been held.
The government said the other day the US air strike in Balochistan was not only a violation of international laws and the UN Charter but also against the sovereignty of Pakistan. “This action will leave serious impact on the US-Pakistan ties,” Nisar said. He asserted the government would present its clear stance on the issue following a meeting of the National Security Council that was being held shortly after the PM’s arrival from abroad.
The minister said in between the lines the US strike itself sabotaged the peace talks despite the consensus reached during the recent quadrilateral meeting that dialogue would be the only option in the whole peace process. “I cannot say what would be implications of this incident on the peace talks, but if you target the Taliban chief, I don’t understand how they will come on the negotiation table,” he said and added a very tough situation had been created for Pakistan. He reminded that Taliban had agreed to declare Kabul as a conflict-free zone in the earlier peace talks, but these were also derailed with the leaking of death news of Mullah Omar. He further said if military was the last option to eliminate Taliban in Afghanistan, why more than 150,000 ISAF troops could not emerge victorious in Afghanistan. “Then what was the reason behind opening Taliban’s office in Qatar?” he questioned.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan expressed the government suspicions over the US air strike in Balochistan and said if the Taliban chief was to be targeted, it could be done in other countries as he had been travelling in Iran, Bahrain, UAE and others, besides living in Afghanistan. “This logic in not understood why Mansour was targeted in Pakistan,” he said.
The interior minister also dismissed the claims of the Obama administration that Pakistan had been informed prior to the air strike. “The claim is absolutely false as the US officially informed Pakistan seven hours after the incident,” he asserted. “The US will have to decide what kind of policy it wants to adopt for the region and that should also be effective,” he said.
The statement of the US is against the international laws that it will target anyone who appears a threat to it, Nisar said. “This world will become a jungle if you follow this principle,” he said, commenting on the recent statement of the US government. “There are many people living in the West who are a threat to Pakistan’s security,” he added. He also rejected the claims that Afghan Taliban had support of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and military.
The interior minister directly avoided to confirm the death of Mullah Mansour and said, “The government cannot confirm his death officially before the DNA test of the body and the process has been started.” He added the information gleaned from the circles of Afghan Taliban and the US showed Mullah Mansour was a target of that drone strike and he was no more in this world. He said a relative of the former Taliban chief had requested the government to have his dead body. He added his DNA samples had been collected to identify the body. The driver of the vehicle killed in the attack had been identified and his body had been handed over to his family.
About the passport and computerised national identity card (CNIC) of Wali Muhammad, found a few yards away from the incident site, the minister said how these documents remained intact whereas the dead bodies and the vehicles were burnt to ashes. The matter is being probed. “No person with this name used to live at Qillah Abdullah as mentioned in his CNIC,” he asserted. This also cannot be confirmed that the passport found from the incident site was under the use of the person killed or not. “Wali Muhammad got his identity card issued manually in 2001. Again he got a computerised identity card in 2002. Similarly, he applied for passport for the first time in 2005 and got it renewed in 2011. On the basis of an intelligence report, I had ordered cancellation of 24,000 CNICs and passports that also included Wali Muhammad’s. Nadra cancelled his CINC, but did not ask the Passport Directorate to cancel his passport,” he said and added this matter was also under investigation. All the persons who verified Wali’s identity card documents were either being arrested or probed, he said. He admitted Nadra and the passport office were involved in issuing CNICs and passports, respectively, to Afghan nationals and other non-Pakistanis.
Nisar said the government was also examining from where the drone got access into Pakistan. It was suspected the drone did not enter Pakistani territory, he said, adding, perhaps, the drone hit the vehicle inside Iran.
